How One Jaipur Man Helped 4,000 Families Stay Cooler Without AC By Turning Rooftops Into Farms

As summer temperatures rise across India, air conditioners have become less of a luxury and more of a necessity. But in cities like Jaipur, where rooftops trap intense heat throughout the day, cooling a home often comes with another burden — soaring electricity bills. For Prateek Tiwari, this was a problem worth solving. Like many urban residents, he noticed how unbearably hot his home became during peak summer. The roof absorbed heat all day, turning rooms below into ovens by afternoon. The obvious solution was more air conditioning, but that only meant higher power consumption and bigger ...